That One Puppet Thing

It starts as it often does—with a sort of anxious buzzing in his wires, his hands growing unsteady and fidgety enough to make complex work unnecessarily difficult. He tries to focus, to reach that deep state of concentration that came so easily before where he could lose hours just working on a project, but his thoughts keep slipping away, spiraling round and round until there's only one person at the center of it all.

Oh, how Nexus hates it.

It feels like losing, like giving up, but he can't stop himself—

No, no, he doesn't want to stop himself. He could easily. He's not weak. He could stop whenever he wants to. He just doesn't feel like it.

Laughter echoes through the lab, the walls reflecting the sound, corrupting it until he can't tell where it's coming from, but it doesn't matter—he knows it's all in his head anyway. He half-heartedly mutters, "shut up" not really expecting it to listen and, of course, it instantly grows clearer, more real, as if embodied by his attention.

Not-Solar speaks with a gleeful cruelty that has been only directed at Nexus since his death.

"You're not too good at all this being evil thing, huh?" Nexus knows his mouth forms a nasty smile that doesn't belong on his face. "Carving my own path my ass. Can't even take what you want. No wonder you got replaced so easily."

Nexus's claws dig into his workstation, leaving deep grooves in the metal. Dark Sun will see them later. He won't say anything, but Nexus can already feel his eyes on him, judging, calculating, digging into his weakness.

"I said. Shut. Up. You're not him."

Solar's laugh deepens, starting to sound too much like Eclipse.

"Yeah, I'm not," It agrees easily. "But it doesn't matter, because you want me there. You need me, because who else will be honest with you?"

It's voice turns venomous, hissing through clenched teeth. "If I knew you'd be so pathetic after my death, I'd have ditched your ass sooner. All this power for what? To watch Sunny crawl back into his piece-of-shit brother's lap, after everything you did for him?"

The mockery—the truth of it—twists something inside Nexus's chest so violently he swears something breaks. He spins around, his claws ready, power held poised like a dagger, but there's nothing. Of course, there's fucking nothing.

He turns back, frantic now, his head pounding and unsteady energy buzzing through him. He shouldn't listen. It's lying, it's always lying to him, that's not fucking true. Sun doesn't. He wouldn't —

Nexus needs to know. Just to be sure. One quick peek, that's all. Decision—his decision—comes with the rush of relief.

He connects to the cameras—all of them at once. The screen in his lab splits into multiple squares, showing different areas, different angles: the kitchen, Dazzle's room, the cat's room, Sun's—there you are.

He breathes a sigh of relief, anxiety snuffed out like a flame, when he spots that familiar soft yellow—no disgusting blue here to taint it.

Sun is alone in his room. He's crying. Fuck.

Nexus doesn't even attempt to stop his modesty panel from snapping open, his legs going weak as he leans closer to the screen, taking in the way his brother curls into himself, clutching something that looks suspiciously like Nexus's pajamas. The wave of soft affection that washes over him is almost as strong as the arousal.

Arms circle him from behind, sudden but not surprising—not anymore. Nexus knows how this goes by now. He doesn't fight it.

One arm wraps around his neck, holding him tight, the other digs into his thigh, rubbing up and down, nearly but not quite touching his writhing cock. He can feel the rough fabric of work gloves (he shouldn't be able to —), powerful hands holding him, keeping him together. Solar will not let him fall apart. A body presses against his back, every part icily cold but solid. Steady. Breath ghosts over his shoulder, the voice warm now, telling him he got what he wanted. What they wanted.

"Was it so hard? I know you needed this."

Teeth graze his shoulder, sharp points tangible even through the clothes, and Nexus shudders, leaning over the table as he's pressed closer to the screen.

"S-shut up." It lacks conviction now, with the way he pants, but he can't stay silent. A childish need to prove he was right forces the words out of his voicebox. "S-see? He's... he's not with—"

A particularly loud sob from Sun silences any cohesive thoughts he had left, and he cannot wait anymore. His hand flies down to frantically tug on his suspenders, pulling his pants down just enough to free his aching length, squeezing it with a moan. He gasps for air like he needs it, his vents roaring—or maybe it's his processor overheating.

It doesn't matter, because all he can hear, all he can see, is Sun — Sun — Sun.

Curled on his bed now. Alone, miserable, crying. Crying for his brother, his real brother.

He strokes himself in time with each whimper that tears itself out of Sun's voicebox. Thank fuck he installed high-quality bugs in Sun's bedroom. The sounds are so clear it's almost like he's standing right over him. He wished he was.

"You could be," Solar whispers, his voice coated in dark desire, mirroring the one that swells inside Nexus. They always were in tune. "You could go there right now. Comfort him~ Look how much he needs you."

Cold fingers settle over his, helping him, steadying the rhythm, steadying him. Nexus's optics never leave Sun's figure on the screen, but he can see the dark orange of Solar's faceplate in his peripheral vision, can feel him pressed against his back, supporting him like he always had.

Sun pulls on his rays, his distress palpable and beautiful even through the lens of the cameras, each angle displaying his misery in all its radiance. His eyes are dim and cloudy, his lovely faceplate dark with streaks of oil that Nexus desperately wants to lick clean. Oh, he could comfort him, alright.

He struggles not to cum, the need burning through him, painful in its intensity, as he imagines going there right now. He could open a portal there. Isolate the sounds in the room so no one could interrupt. And then—

"You will pin him to the bed. He's too weak to fight you off, and he won't even try once he realizes it's you. He'll spread his legs and beg you to take him, to make the pain stop, to forgive him for betraying you." Solar purrs, his voice filled with icy fire, his—Nexus's—hand speeding up against his cock, squeezing too tight, almost painfully.

"He'll know he deserves to be taken however roughly you please, but you won't hurt him, will you? No. You'll make him feel good, so good, he forgets Moon, Dazzle, anyone. He'll only know you. He'll only need you."

"Ahh, fu-fuck... Sunny..."

His brother is crying. Nexus is crying too, oil dripping from his eyes and his mouth tinted with streaks of vibrant purple, but that doesn't register. It doesn't matter. Dark power—his power—swells within him like a tumor, growing too large for his body.

He's invisible.

He's gonna break.

He needs to touch Sun. He needs to sink his teeth into his metal, to infect him with the same sickness that has plagued him ever since he opened his eyes for the first time.

That smile, that fear, everything that is Sun—his brother, his other half. His.

"Yours," Solar agrees, guiding his hand, faster — harder. "Ours. You'll take him and you'll bind him and you'll make him part of us."

The voice isn't Solar's anymore. The shape in the corner of his eye shifts and melts into something horrific, with eyes and tentacles and mouths that bleed purple. The grip on his cock turns punishingly tight. The energy, like a lightning strike, shoots through his spine and lower body—he screams as he cums, his legs giving out from the force of it. His face slams into the desk as wave after wave of pleasure rips through him.

It goes on and on, far longer than it should, Sun's fading cries in the background the only thing he can hear between the wheezing of his vents.

It takes some time for him to come to his senses. He's alone in the lab, kneeling in a concerningly large puddle of his own cum and what looks like oil, neon-purple swirls resembling distant galaxies in a sea of black. He should probably be worried, but all he feels is numbness.

The desk creaks as he uses it to pull himself upright, his legs still shaky, his calibration all wonky, but it doesn't matter. He'll deal with it later.

Sun's cries have quieted into tiny whimpers, his shoulders still shaking with aftershocks, but his vents going steady and deep.

Ah... he's fallen asleep.

Nexus's mouth slips into an easy, soft smile. His hand, still trembling, presses against the screen as if trying to reach his brother through it. The greasy, glistening stain of cum and oil it leaves contrasts beautifully with the soft yellow of Sun's sleeping form. He looks so tiny in that bed—in that room—in that house. Like a lonely star drifting through the empty void of space.